Are aluminum pots&pans safe?

Great Answer

Professionally Researched. (What's this?)

On One Hand: Aluminum has been linked to Alzheimer's

A 1970s Canadian study revealed a link between aluminum and Alzheimer's disease. Aluminum salts found in cookware can leach into food, especially if the food is very acidic or salty. It makes sense to avoid a known source of aluminum.

On the Other: Amount of aluminum in cookware is low

Scientists estimate that a person cooking and storing food in aluminum ingests 3.5 milligrams daily, compared with 10 to 20 milligrams in a buffered aspirin tablet. Furthermore, aluminum is not easily absorbed in the digestive tract, so it is not easily absorbed in the bloodstream (which is how aluminum would reach the brain). According to Dr. John Koning of Riverside General Hospital in Corona, Calif., "most ingested aluminum is recovered in the feces, and much more is ingested by a person taking antacids than one could ever leach from an aluminum pan."
Since the 1970s study the Food and Drug Administration has been looking closely at research on the metal. In May 1986 the agency announced that it had no information that the normal intake of aluminum from food, cookware or additives is harmful.

Bottom Line

Aluminum pots and pans do not appear to pose a serious health threat. But it never hurts to cook on the safe side. A compromise is cooking with anodized aluminum cookware. These pots and pans are dipped in a hot acid bath that changes the aluminum's molecular structure, hardening the metal so that it cannot leach into food. Concerned consumers should look for pans with labels that state that the aluminum is anodized.

Source:

Healthy Child Healthy World

"Is that newfangled cookware safe?" by Dave Blumenthal, FDA Consumer, October 1990

Food Safety Site

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Are aluminum pots&pans safe?

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